The invention relates to a fuse for a satellite projectile. Such fuses generally have an ignition needle or firing pin which is axially slidably movably mounted in a housing and which has a safety mechanism mounted thereon in the form of a wound band and also a detonator support member which swings radially outwardly due to centrifugal forces caused by the spin of the projectile.
A "satellite projectile" in the sense of this invention means one of a plurality of projectiles or grenades which are transported over a target area by means of a carrier projectile and are expelled from the latter when the carrier projectile has reached the target area.
A fuse of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,483. Such fuse has a firing pin which is screwed into the fuse housing when in a safety position. The firing pin, when in the safety position engages into a slider so that the slider locks it and prevents it from swinging radially outwardly. The end of the screwed in firing pin which faces away from the slider is joined to a stabilizing band or ribbon, which unfolds or unwinds after expulsion of the grenade (satellite projectile) and exerts for the purpose of arming the fuse a rotational torque on the screwed in firing pin. In this known arrangement there frequently occur, however, undesirable time deviations during arming of the fuses of the individual grenades as result of fluctuations of air-streaming against the unfolding ribbon and spin of the projectile which cause differences in the torque forces and deviations in the frictional resistance in the screw thread contact between the thread in the fuse housing and the thread on the firing pin. This is particularly disadvantageous when the satellite projectiles are expelled from the carrier projectile at relatively low altitude and there remains only a comparatively short time interval until target impact.